Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday met the top brass of the aerospace major HAL and assured them of all required assistance to help the firm come out of the current financial crisis, official sources said.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director R Madhavan, Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa were among those present at the meeting, they said.

The meeting came amid increasing attack on the government by the Congress following reports of severe financial crisis in the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) which produces a variety of attack helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.

Madhavan apprised Sitharaman about the financial condition of the public sector undertaking and steps being initiated to overcome the difficulties.

It is learnt that he has requested the IAF to clear the pending dues which is in the range of around 15,000 crore, the sources said.

'Buy-backs, dividends to govt left HAL poorer by Rs 15,500 Cr'

A top leader of its employees Wednesday claimed the state-run undertaking got poorer by nearly Rs 15,500 crore because of the dividends and buy-backs it made to the Centre from 2003 to 2018.

S Chandrasekhar, the general secretary of the HAL Employees Association, said the public sector aerospace and defence major returned Rs 6,393 crore to the government in two buy-backs of share for the first time in its history.

It also paid Rs 9,000 crore by way of dividend between 2003-2004 and 2017-18 when the company did not have enough money to pay salaries to its staff.

"So, in total nearly Rs 15,500 crore has been taken away from us," Chandrasekhar told PTI.

Chandrasekhar's remarks came ahead of Sitharaman's meeting with HAL chairman.  

The government and main opposition Congress are locked in a slugfest over the stressed finances of HAL.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had on Saturday alleged that Sitharaman "lied" in Parliament that government orders worth Rs one lakh crore were given to HAL, and demanded that she either place the documents in support of her claim made in the House or resign.

Gandhi's attack came after a media report claimed that "not a single rupee of the said Rs 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now". The report cited senior HAL management officials in order to back its claim.